An Australian rodent, hitherto believed to be extinct, has been rediscovered alive after 150 years. It's about Gould's mouse
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himAn Australian rodent, hitherto believed to be extinct, has been rediscovered alive after 150 years. It is the Gould mouse, which disappeared (like many other local mammals) after European colonization.
It is always sad to report the extinction of an animal or plant species, but (luckily) sometimes a species thought to be extinct is rediscovered - much to the delight of naturalists. Researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) recently stated that the Australian Gould's mouse, a small rodent thought to be extinct for 150 years now, has been found on numerous islands off the west coast of Australia. It was believed that this mouse was definitively extinct following environmental changes due to the European colonization of its territory.
The 'resurrection' of this species is really good news in the face of the very serious impoverishment of the Australian natural environment due to European colonization - explains Professor Roycroft, who announced the discovery. - Unfortunately, it is estimated that 41% of Australian mammals became completely extinct after the advent of European colonizers in 1788. It is fantastic that Gould's mouse is still alive, even if its extinction from the continent (its presence is in fact attested only on the islands) highlights how quickly this species went from being one of the most widespread in Australia to being confined only to small western areas. The drop in the number of specimens is remarkable.
The team compared DNA samples taken from extinct Australian rodents and 42 of their similar ones still alive, trying to reconstruct the dynamics that involved these animals after the arrival of Europeans in the territory. They were surprised to find that Gould's mouse was genetically the same as the Shark Bay mouse, which still lives on numerous Australian islands. In practice, even if these two animals were considered exponents of two different species, they actually belong to the same species.
Biodiversity, both in the context of ecosystems and single species, is the litmus test of genetic variety. It's a bit like life insurance: if a pathogen or other type of threat targets an individual or even an entire species on the basis of some genetic trait, there are other 'actors' of the same species, or of another species, which can replace the threatened individual or species and ensure survival through a phenomenon called natural selection. In an ecosystem, this ensures that vital processes such as the replacement of water or nutrients continue to take place even if a species goes extinct.
Source: PNAS
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